Campus Safety Over the Past

Campus Safety

Over the past fifteen years, there have been more school shootings that have ended with many deaths. One of the most unforgettable school shootings took place at Virginia Tech. The incident happened because a non-native speaking student may have been suffering from depression (Mass Shooting at Virginia Tech, 2007). Since that day, there have been questions if there is too much protection for privacy rights among college students on the Virginia Tech campus or if the privacy laws prevented school administration from investigating into the shooter's personal life. Who is to blame privacy laws or Virginia Tech? This paper argues whether if privacy laws prevented school administration from taking action or if there is too much privacy on campus because the school may have prevented the shooting if they had taken action by investigating the shooter's personal life.

Before the shootings happened, two females complained to campus security that the shooter was stalking them but yet no action was nothing was done due to the fact that Virginia Tech mental health professionals and campus security are limited to how much they know about the students' lives (Gammage and Burling. 2007). This is because the laws protect privacy rights for students. However, Like any other college, Virginia Tech has certain procedures to follow before taking actions on a complaint. These procedures include hearings that have to occur before taking disciplinary actions, which allows too much time to elapse. This leaves more opportunity for someone to do more damage as the shooter did (Gammage and Burling. 2007). federal law passed a public safety in 1974 that stated public safety overrides privacy, and therefore the school was authorized to look into the student's private life in order to keep the school safe (McMurrary, 2008). With that, Virginia Tech should be blamed for giving students too much protection of privacy since federal law permits public safety is more important than privacy.

Along with federal laws permitting public safety to be more important than privacy, Virginia Tech should have taken into account that most college students have just turned adult age by providing more mental health services to students as some college do. For example, St. Lawerence University has a requirement that every student who visits the health center is screened for depression and if the screening shows signs of depression, the students are sent to counseling (Stamlor, 2007). This does not go against any privacy laws. It is just a way to keep the students healthy and secured in the campus environment. Therefore, Virginia Tech did not look into the possibility that the shooter may have been suffering from depression, therefore they should be held responsible for the shooting by choosing to give students too much protection of privacy.

Given the fact that young people in the ages of 15 and 24 commit suicide every year, therefore young adults on college campuses should be required to be screened for depression every time that they go to receive medical care on campus (Hillier & Harrison, 2004). With that, risk factors and reasons for suicide among young people have been studied very carefully. Studies show that 300 suicides a year are among young adults. Because of that statistic, there was too much protection of privacy, which may have contributed to the Virginia Tech incident

Since the shooter at Virginia Tech was non-native speaking student who was 10,000 miles away from his family in Korea, the school should have been aware he was more at risk for depression. Students are who non-native speakers have trouble finding their identity in the classroom.(Khramtsova and Saarnio 2007). For example, the shooter expressed himself in a twisted manner through his assignment, it is a sign of depression the behavior of students inside the classroom depends somewhat upon their relationships with professors and faculty, because, after all, they are the ones who teach the subject and interact with students. It is inevitable that behaviors of students inside a college classroom in a way depend on their race or ethnicity, which does not make it very neutral place of learning and social interaction. Studies have shown non-native speaking students struggle depression because they are in a different country and away from family. Scholars argue whether this is the implication of the alienation to students who form the mainstream population or just one of the effects of being drenched in a multicultural society. Additionally, Studies show non-native speaking students are more pessimistic than any other students and are more likely to anticipate possible problems in their ventures. This insinuates that they are more inclined towards avoidance of future maladies, and thus they always tend to play their affairs safe. Non-native students are also more prone to health problems as aftereffects of their depression and pessimism, not to mention persistent recurrences of inferiority complex, which may interfere with their academic achievement and in this case, they would benefit from a depression screening when they are go for medical treatment on campus. Due to the fact students who come from an ethnic background are more at risk for depression, colleges and legal regulations should balance privacy and safety in order to prevent future massacres on campus because there was too much protection of privacy, which may have contributed to the Virginia Tech incident.

On the other hand, when the two females complained that the shooter was stalking them, the school administration did not act because the privacy law protects students autonomy rather than making them get mental health counseling (Gammage and Burling. 2007). The law should not be so protective of those who have warning signs such as twisted poetry, or even written out deep seeded issues in their written assignments and complaints against them from other students that feel they need protection against someone who poses as a threat. It seems that the laws were to blame for the shootings. Since the shootings, Virginia Tech has had many discussions about having a watched list of students who may be at risk for unlawful behavior. Colleges and legal regulations should balance privacy and safety in order to prevent future incidents on campus because the laws protects too much privacy.